The Eucharistic Miracles of Amsterdam

The Eucharistic miracles are the Christian miracles
surrounding the Lord’s Table. In fact, the Eucharistic miracles show the direct
manifestation of Christ in the Eucharist. The most commonly described
Eucharistic miracles includes the Hosts noticeably transforming into a
myocardium tissue, surviving even after being thrown into fire, bleeding, being
preserved for an incredibly long time, or even sustaining the lives of people
for decades. These Eucharistic miracles are verified by a commission sent by
the Catholic Church before they decide whether it is “worth to believe”.

The Eucharist Miracle in 1345

Dating back to 1345, Amsterdam was a
small fishing township having four streets and some alleys that were lined up
beside the main canal. The city only had some fishermen huts, a monastery, and
a church. It was the Eucharistic miracle, which happened on
March 13, 1345, that led to the growth of this city. The Dutch Catholics, on
the 600th anniversary of this miracle, credited all of Amsterdam’s development
and advancement to the Eucharistic miracle that was present in the city.

The miracle happened on a house in Kalverstreet, when a
fisherman named Ysbrant Dommer asked for the priest on his death bed for
receiving the sacraments of healing and the Holy Communion. After the man
confessed his sins, the priest anointed the man with oil and gave him Holy
Communion.

Just after the priest left the house, the man started coughing
uncontrollably. His wife ran to him for his aid but the man continued choking
violently and vomited everything out including the intact Host. The wife
instinctively swept everything out including the Host and threw it to the open
fireplace. However, as soon as she realized her mistake, the fire was raging. She
did not try to take the Host with her hand, as she was afraid of burning
herself.

The next morning, the fisherman’s wife went immediately to the
fireplace as soon as she woke up. The fire was not fully out and the coals were
also burning hot. She looked for the Host stoking the coal and marveled when
she found it undamaged by the fire. It stood intact on the top of the burning
ember; the Altar bread neither burned nor changed its color, but was there
fresh and bright among the pieces of coal. She took the Host immediately from
the fire and kept it safely in a chest wrapping with a neat linen cloth.

She called upon the priest and related the entire story to
him. The priest placed the Communion bread in a pyx and washed the linen cloth
that was used for wrapping it. The priest thought of not telling the incident
to anyone as he feared that it would raise a gossip involving the couple and
took the Host to the parish church of St. Nicholas. He placed the Host safely
in the tabernacle, warping it with a cloth.

Nevertheless, the priest found the pyx empty the next morning,
and the Host was found in the same chest where the fisherman’s wife had placed
It. This incident was stunning and confusing to her because she remembered the
giving it to the priest the previous day. She got very scared and went to the
church to tell what had happened.

The priest returned the Eucharist to the church again by placing
It in a pyx. The disappearance also happened again, so this time, he consulted
other clergymen about the incident. All of them agreed that the miracle was the
proof of God’s direct intercession and that it should be honored openly. The
news of this Eucharistic miracle was spread all over Europe in the next couple
of months.

Another miraculous aspect of this story is that the fisherman
Ysbrant Dommer did not die on his death bed, but recovered from his condition.
When more people heard of this miracle, all went to the fisherman’s house to
see the place where it happened. This place very soon turned into a kind of
shrine and then into a chapel.

The city council and the civil magistrate also made official
inquiries about the event and were pleased by the honesty of the witnesses.
They agreed with the occurrence as a fact and endorsed the Eucharistic miracle
in the official city documents. The church authorities headed by the Bishop of
Utrecht also made a detailed inquiry about the event before approving the
clergy to propagate the miraculous event. In a Pastoral letter, the Bishop
declared officially that a genuine miracle had happened in the small Amsterdam
town, and approved reverence of the Eucharistic miracle of the Host in the Dutch
capital city.